Assistance with spiritual care staff and leadership searches now available

Late in 2023, the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab entered into conversation with Richard Thorne, a highly regarded and deeply respected leader in the Clinical Pastoral Education community. Over the course of a long career Richard’s company, Thorne Consulting, has helped many organizations identify top-quality Certified Educators to lead their CPE programs.

We are extraordinarily proud to announce that as of April 1, Richard will entrust the search and partnership building work of Thorne Consulting to the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab as he enters a well-deserved retirement:

It has been a pleasure to work with and learn from Richard in this transition period. It’s clear why his leadership has been so deeply valuable to the organizations that Thorne Consulting has helped: Richard is empathetic, creative, and insightful in a way that all of his clients will affirm. He has driven spectacular results in CPE programs across the country.

With that in mind, we encourage those of you who are seeking Certified Educators, program directors, and other leadership staff in your own institutions to contact Michael Skaggs for a conversation. Michael co-founded the Lab with Wendy Cadge and Trace Haythorn in 2018 and leads the Lab’s public-facing work as Director of Programs; he will now also lead the Lab’s efforts to partner programs with the best fit in leadership candidates. We want to hear from candidates themselves, too — those soon to become Certified Educators, seeking new opportunities in leadership and more! If you’re looking to get started, or to make a career change, reach out to Michael.

We thank Richard for his years of service to the Clinical Pastoral Education community specifically and the profession of spiritual care more broadly. We thank him also for entrusting the legacy of Thorne Consulting to our Lab — we can’t wait to see what lies ahead for all of us. Congratulations on a well-earned retirement, Richard!